Speaker hugging is purposefully getting very, very close to a
loudspeaker because you enjoy the way the
sonic vibration of deep
bass feels on your
skin. This is usually done with
subwoofers, as they give out the most powerful vibrations. The term may refer to somebody who is
dancing or standing right next to a
bassbin, or somebody who is making
physical contact with the it, via leaning, lying, or sitting on it. Speaker hugging can obviously be hard on the
ears, but is done because it feels so darn
wonderful -- like a full body
massage given in time to the
music.
Often, speaker huggers are seen at raves on one kind of entheogen or another (often ecstasy), though it is still quite tactilely engaging when done sober. While rolling, though, you can feel the low frequency vibrations move each individual hair on your arms, legs, and head. Combined with the sonic sensory overload of being right beside a woofer, it can be extremely intense.
Another fun variation on to speaker hugging is to touch the frames of your glasses to the side of the box while wearing them and looking around. This causes the whole world to vibrate and turn fuzzy in synch with the bassline, as the vibrations of the box cause the lenses to move quickly and randomly. Looking out at the world this way is pretty intriguing straight, and sheerly mind-blowing on drugs.